Small-quantity, lipid-based nutrient supplements provided to women during pregnancy and 6 mo postpartum and to their infants from 6 mo of age increase the mean attained length of 18-mo-old children in semi-urban Ghana: A randomized controlled trial
Background: Childhood stunting usually begins in utero and continues after birth; therefore, its reduction must involve actions across different stages of early life. Objective: We evaluated the efficacy of small-quantity, lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNSs) provided during pregnancy, lactation, and infancy on attained size by 18 mo of age. Design: In this partially double-blind, individually randomized […]
mHealth-supported delivery of an evidence-Based family home-visiting intervention in Sierra Leone: Protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial
Background: Past trauma and exposure to violence have been related to poor emotion regulation and household violence, which can have persistent mental health effects across generations. The Family Strengthening Intervention for Early Childhood Development (FSI-ECD/called Sugira Muryango in Rwanda) is an evidence-based behavioral home-visiting intervention to promote caregiver mental health, positive parenting practices, and early […]
Text message reminders and unconditional monetary incentives to improve measles vaccination in western Kenya: Study protocol for the mobile and scalable innovations for measles immunization randomized controlled trial
Background: Globally, 21 million children do not receive the measles vaccine each year. With high levels of mobile phone access and ownership, opportunities exist to leverage mobile health technologies to generate demand for immunization. Objective: The aim of the Mobile and Scalable Innovations for Measles Immunization trial is to determine if text message (short message […]
Millennium development health metrics: Where do Africa’s children and women of childbearing age live?
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have prompted an expansion in approaches to deriving health metrics to measure progress toward their achievement. Accurate measurements should take into account the high degrees of spatial heterogeneity in health risks across countries, and this has prompted the development of sophisticated cartographic techniques for mapping and modeling risks. Conversion of […]
Decomposing multidimensional child poverty and its drivers in the Mouhoun region of Burkina Faso, West Africa
Background: The global poverty profile shows that Africa and Asia bear the highest burden of multidimensional child poverty. Child survival and development therefore depend on socioeconomic and environmental factors that surround a child.The aim of this paper is to measure multidimensional child poverty and underpin what drives it among children aged 5 to 18 years […]
Effectiveness of advertising availability of prenatal ultrasound on uptake of antenatal care in rural Uganda: A cluster randomized trial
In rural Uganda pregnant women often lack access to health services, do not attend antenatal care, and tend to utilize traditional healers/birth attendants. We hypothesized that receiving a message advertising that “you will be able to see your baby by ultrasound” would motivate rural Ugandan women who otherwise might use a traditional birth attendant to […]
Bringing women’s voices to PMTCT CARE: Adapting CARE’s Community Score Card© to engage women living with HIV to build quality health systems in Malawi
Background: Coverage of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services has expanded rapidly but approaches to ensure service delivery is patient-centered have not always kept pace. To better understand how the inclusion of women living with HIV in a collective, quality improvement process could address persistent gaps, we adapted a social accountability approach, CARE’s […]
Magnitude and associated factors of postpartum depression among women in Nekemte town, East Wollega zone, west Ethiopia, 2019: A community-based study
Background Postpartum depression is a non-psychotic disorder that happens during the first 1year after childbirth. It affects both the mother’s health and child’s development and is given significant public health concern in developed countries. However, in developing countries including Ethiopia, postnatal care is mainly concerned with obstetric problems and the baby’s health, while the psychological […]
Prevalence and associated factors of home delivery in Eastern Africa: Further analysis of data from the recent Demographic and Health Survey data
Objectives: The current study aimed to determine the magnitude of home delivery and its associated factors in East Africa using data from the Demographic and Health Survey. Methods: We pooled data from the Demographic and Health Survey of the 11 East African countries and included a total weighted sample of 126,107 women in the study. […]
Nutrition assessment of under-five children in Sudan: Tracking the achievement of the global nutrition targets
Background: Malnutrition places a heavy burden on the health, well-being, and sustainable development of populations in Sudan, especially a country affected by conflict, which continues to experience high levels of food insecurity, undernutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies; 3.3 million are acutely malnourished, with 522,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition and approximately 2.2 million children requiring […]
